the little love that could've
by ohwhatsherface
Summary: Non-massacre AU. SasuSaku. And somewhere between her two year long I-no-longer-like-Uchiha-Sasuke-like-that-thankyouverymuch phase, also dubbed Denial by Ino, and a good chakra-laden fist to the face, Sasuke fell for her. Hard.
1. one

**title:** the cheesy, fluffy romance that never happened but totally should've  
**author:** ohwhatsherface  
**warning:** disgusting amount of fluff; non-massacre AU because I wanted one that was SasuSaku :D  
**note:** I stole my prompts from 1sentence; this is just an excuse to write SasuSaku in their younger teens without the tragedy that is _canon_  
**disclaimer: **I do not own Naruto

* * *

1. Comfort

Sasuke took comfort in the fact that despite her two-year-long I-no-longer-_like_-Uchiha-Sasuke-like-that-thankyouverymuch _phase_ – also dubbed Denial by Ino – Sakura accepted his request for a date (which was good, because had she declined, Sasuke wouldn't know what to do with so-called _raging crush_).

* * *

2. Kiss

Hardened shinobi that he is, Itachi cannot help but throw his head back and laugh when his fifteen-year-old brother (finally all grown up) asks him, "Er… what's it like to… you know… _kissagirl_?"

* * *

3. Soft

Her hand is pleasantly and surprisingly soft, Sasuke decides as he grabs it, ignoring her pink cheeks; what he can _not _ignore, however, are the coos made by his mother, who is not-so-subtly spying on her _precious baby Sasu-chan_ thanks to a tip from his evil older brother.

* * *

4. Pain

When he sees Sakura biting her lip and holding back tears as she patches up the injury he took in place of her, and he concludes that seeing her cry hurt more.

* * *

5. Potatoes

"Trust me, she'll love it!" were the words that should have stopped Sasuke from believing _anything_ Naruto (the stupid blond idiot who liked to call himself Sasuke's best friend) claimed, but when Sakura got him a basket of tomatoes, he loved them, so perhaps she wouldn't mind a crate of potatoes.

* * *

6. Rain

There is a torrential downpour outside one evening when Sakura is at Sasuke's house and Mikoto breezily suggests that Sakura stay the night, causing Sakura to blush and Sasuke to squeak out a, "ohmygod_Mom_," confusing Mikoto because she _obviously_ meant in separate rooms (it was still to early for grandchildren).

* * *

7. Chocolate

One day Itachi sees Sakura lashing out at Sasuke for no particular reason and Sasuke yelling back indignantly, causing her to tearfully stomp away, and so he takes it upon himself to teach Sasuke a few unspoken rules: 'She Is Always, _Always_ Right (Seriously—_Always_)', 'No, Chocolate And Flowers Do Not Always Resolve Problems', 'She Can Eat As Much As She Wants To Eat' and so on.

* * *

8. Happiness

Even though she isn't an Uchiha and she will surely _forever taint_ the Uchiha gene pool with that _bubblegum-pink_ hair of hers, Fugaku chooses to ignore all the clansmen itching to marry off their daughters to Sasuke – the boy is happy.

* * *

9. Telephone

Sasuke blanches the day he arrives to Sakura's apartment to hear her on the phone: "No, no, _we're not doing anything like that_ – no, I'm not lying – yes, yes, I _am_ sure – okay, we will – _yes_, if it happens – which it won't – _I swear, we are not having sex_ – but yes, we will use protection... goodbye, Mikoto-san."

* * *

10. Ears

"No, Sakura, I will not get an earring – I don't care if you think they're hot – so _what_ if Shikamaru has one – woman, I said _no_, dammit – you'll do _what_ – er... okay _fineifyouinsist_."

* * *

11. Name

Sasuke hated _Sasucakes_ the first time Naruto dubbed him as such, and he didn't like it any better when Sakura decided to use it.

* * *

12. Sensual

There were a few things Sakura couldn't eat in his presence, like popsicles, bananas and ice cream cones, for example.

* * *

13. Death

"Crap, crap, crap," Sasuke curses, when he finds the _love fern_ – a symbol of their growing relationship – that Sakura gave him (courtesy of one Ino Yamanaka's incessant pushing) brown and wilted and _dead_.

* * *

14. Sex

Sakura is not at all ashamed when Sasuke glances at the orange cover of the book in her hands, in passing, and then does a speedy double-take, followed by widening eyes, flushed cheeks, and utterly embarrassed sputters.

* * *

15. Touch

"I _swear_, Mikoto-san, I was _tickling_ him – _nothing was going on_!"

* * *

16. Weakness

Naruto spends weeks bragging to Sasuke about his "super awesome new technique" that would "kick his ass six ways from Sunday"; he also spends weeks recovering from a beating via Sakura who most certainly did _not_ approve of something called _Sexy Sakura no Jutsu_.

* * *

17. Tears

"My mom says it helps to open the fridge and let out some of the cold air," Sasuke tells her as she cuts onions between wiping away tears, because even if they weren't actual tears of sadness, they were still _Sakura's_ tears and those just never sat well with him.

* * *

18. Speed

"Sasuke, I am displeased with how fast your relationship with Haruno-san is going," his father begins one day, and before Sasuke tell him that nothing _like that_ is going on, Fugaku raises a hand and continues, "Why are you two not engaged yet?"

* * *

19. Wind

It is on a trip to the south of the Wind Country that Sakura realizes she has a knack for poisons, and it is a trip to the north of the Fire Country that Sakura meets a former Konoha kunoichi who also recognizes this and wants to make her an apprentice; Sasuke and Naruto try to be happy for her when she starts flailing because unlike Sakura, they realize that that meant Sakura would _leave_.

* * *

20. Freedom

"Do what you want," Sasuke mutters a little too callously and a little to carelessly, ignoring the hurt in Sakura's eyes.

* * *

21. Life

Rin-san (the poisons specialist who offered her an apprenticeship) gives her a month to decide and return, but Sakura doesn't know if she can leave her life in Konoha – her parents, Naruto, Ino, Kakashi-sensei, Tsunade-shishou, _Sasuke_.

* * *

22. Jealousy

Sasuke does not know what he's getting into when he tells Sakura next time _he _will hold her stuff and to not ever ask _Lee-san_ for help again just because he was walking the same way.

* * *

23. Hands

"I'm coming back, you know," Sakura mutters, pretending to be annoyed, after Naruto hands her his favourite pyjama pants with printed ramen cups on them, and then leaving so she could spend her last night there with Sasuke.

* * *

24. Taste

_She'll only be gone for a year_, Sasuke thinks to himself as he gazes at her sleeping form, because saying the words out loud would leave a bitter taste in his mouth.

* * *

25. Devotion

"So I'm going to be gone for a year and I realize you and your hand are going to have to get reacquainted"—at this, Naruto poorly suppresses a laugh—"so do you want a free pass?" she asks him in the morning as he and Naruto see her to the gates, to which he rolls his eyes and tells her she's an idiot.

* * *

**TBC**


	2. two

**title:** the cheesy, fluffy romance that never happened but totally should've  
**author:** ohwhatsherface  
**warning:** disgusting amount of fluff; non-massacre AU because I wanted one that was SasuSaku :D  
**note:** I stole my prompts from 1sentence; this is just an excuse to write SasuSaku in their younger teens without the tragedy that is _canon_  
**disclaimer: **I do not own Naruto

**FINALLY FINISHED. Sorry it took me forever! Enjoy.**

* * *

26. Forever

One year goes by (though it feels like forever) and Sasuke isn't too sure how to react when a letter returns in place of Sakura, who has decided to extend her apprenticeship a little bit longer.

27. Blood

"This is getting kind of hard to watch," Naruto comments, frowning at the "angsting" (Naruto's words) Sasuke, who is half-heartedly throwing kunai and targets, but Itachi disagrees, "It was hard to watch last week – now it's just pathetic."

28. Sickness

Though her son is a smart boy, Mikoto is astounded by how foolish he is being, so she takes it upon herself to guide him in the right direction: "So she wants to stay another year, Sasuke, that's fine, _support her_ – but stop moping, get off your lazy butt and just _visit_ her!"

29. Melody

Her small greeting of "hey, stranger" is like music to his ears.

30. Star

Sasuke is impressed when he has one of his deadliest snakes give her some venom (as per her rather peculiar request) and she makes an antidote from it in a few hours; he concludes that Haruno Sakura's a superstar.

31. Home

On Sasuke's last day of his measly week's vacation, Sakura truly understands the saying "home is where the heart is."

32. Confusion

Sakura comes back to Konoha a few weeks ahead of the date she originally extended her stay with Rin-sensei to, leaving Sasuke bewildered to see her at his doorstep, but nonetheless pleased.

33. Fear

Sasuke learns the hard way that "What's your problem—it's just a spider" is _not at all okay_ to say.

34. Lightning/Thunder

It is raining heavily with booms of thunder in the background, so Mikoto requests Sakura stay the night (for the nth time, _oh, my GOD_); Sakura flushes deeply when the Uchiha matriarch fails to lead her to the guestroom she usually occupied, but rather to _Sasuke's_ room.

35. Bonds

Sakura eyes Naruto and Sasuke suspiciously and asks, "Are you _sure_ you guys didn't get into some Epic Tragic Forbidden _Bromance_ when I was gone?"

36. Market

The one thing Sakura hates most about Sasuke occasionally sleeping over ("unofficially moving in" as Ino says) is that she has to make a lot more trips to the market since the _fat piece of lard_ keeps eating all her _tomatoes_—well, that and how he uses all the hot water.

37. Technology

"No, Ino, we do _not_ need to spice up our love life."

38. Gift

"...potatoes, _again_?"

39. Smile

Sakura finds it a bit endearing when one morning she wakes up with Sasuke leaning over her, watching, with a strained smile on his face that said he was trying to keep a secret.

40. Innocence

Then he continued, in a most innocent tone, "You were snoring like a fucking elephant—really, it was worse than Naruto."

41. Completion

Her revenge for the Sakura-snores-like-an-elephant incident comes in the form of "Not tonight, Sasuke-kun, I have a headache" for a whole _two weeks_.

42. Clouds

"That one looks Pakkun!" Sakura points out between giggles, expecting him to look at the clouds, but his attention is drawn to the smile on her face.

43. Sky

Sasuke has plenty of scars on his body to show that the amount of things he'd do for this girl is limitless.

44. Heaven

He doesn't tell her because he knows she'd get embarrassed, but she looks heavenly in the white gown she calls a disguise for their mission.

45. Hell

On the nights when he returns from the more gruesome and _haunting_ sorts of missions, Sasuke heads straight to Sakura's apartment, where he reflects on the life of a shinobi — hidden in the shadows with hands covered in blood — as Sakura heals his wounds and gently wipes the redness away from his skin, slowly pulling him out of the darkness.

46. Sun

Sasuke wakes up to the sun in his eyes and _someone_ (likely blond and loud and stupid) rummaging through Sakura's kitchen cupboards, loudly wondering where the ramen is, and wonders if this is what it'll be like when they have a family of their own.

47. Moon

She looks up at the moon and thinks of him on the nights when he's away on a mission, and wonders if he's doing the same.

48. Waves

"You're changing _now_," Sasuke sternly orders before she can get to the beach in her red bikini.

49. Hair

Sasuke presses his lips to her cheek to silence her complaints that her hair is too short and murmurs how the length makes it easier to kiss her.

50. Supernova

He doesn't say it very often, but the few times Sasuke, in fits of passion, trails warm kisses down her neck and murmurs that he loves her, it's like hundreds of explosions are happening beneath her skin leaving her hot and restless, so she tugs him closer to show him how _she_ feels about him.

**_fin_**


End file.
